More Weekend Wrapup "Stuff"

I'm not a tackle minimalist, but I did a pretty darn good job of checking out 2 stores and 1 fishing show this weekend and walking out of all 3 with less than $60 in combined purchases. Here are a few other things I picked up in the last week that I'll be reporting on in the future, as well as related site news.

• I grabbed 2 packs of Gambler Shakey Shads that I plan on testing as part of my "Midwest Finesse" repertoire once the water warms and the sissy jig bite goes away.
• Beside the Megabass knockoff, I also bought one of the new RC2 Luck E Strike squarebills to test. Price was $6.99 and they are all made as silent runners.
• I now own a Lucky Craft Kelly J prop bait that I'll be reporting on later this spring when that bite comes around.
• Received my 6# and 10# spools of Sufix 832 line in neon lime. I'm really anxious to test this line out, and will be dishing out some thoughts after a couple good workouts. The 6# should get a lot of crappie and sissy jig work, and the 10# will be for shaky head fishing.
• Speaking of crappie, I added quite a few new crappie baits to the arsenal. It had been a while since I last added to that box, but I plan on playing with them more this year than I did last. A lot of guys have asked me about how I fish for crappie, what I refer to as 'OTC'-style. A detailed article is coming very soon in that regard. Also reorganized the crappie tackle box this weekend. I'll probably post pics at some point when I get things finalized.
• One more note related to crappie fishing. I bought a spool of 4# Berkley Sensation in 'blaze orange'. Hope it works as good as it looks :) From my testing, Sensation has the least amount of stretch compared to any other mono/copoly or fluoro line that I have tested.
• Spoke with IBF tourney director Kenny Swint at The Outdoorsman show on Saturday, and plans are for a lot more coverage of Federation Invitational events and anglers on this site in 2012. If all goes as discussed, you'll get postings of all tourney results rapidly on the site, hopefully including all the top-8 regional stuff that usually never gets covered. Once info starts rolling in, we'll probably deidicate an entire page to just IBF stuff so it will be easy for anglers to find and keep updated. Also planning interiew features with the Angler & Co-Angler of the Year winners, along with the IBF Classic winner.
• Back on tackle items, I now have my new Rapala digital touch screen weigh scale in hand. I've already been playing with it, figuring out all the features by weighing my rods. Do you know how much your rods weigh? You'll be hearing lots more about this little dude in 2012 on the site.
• Also got my hands on the new Little Pek-R Finesse Jigheads from Rod Yoder and RedShad Tackle. We'll see what we can do with those this spring.
• Lastly, I plan on doing a little bit of 'old school' fishing in 2012, going back to my roots. I've got a pair of 10' poles for panfish dipping and small pond live bait fishing. A lot more than meets the eye here, some of which I plan to cover on the site if I actually take the time to set down the bass poles for a minute. I started out fishing when I was just a little kid on the banks of Eagle Creek as well as the local creeks (more like large drainage ditches) using a cane pole and bobber, and thought it might be fun to revisit those roots, only with modern tackle and techniques. I'm even thinking about holding a 'learn to fish' day for kids and parents locally to introduce them to the simplicity of fishing (and especially catching). I've seen way too many instances of kids out fishing the past few years (both alone and with parents) and simply not catching anything, largely because of poor setup and lack of knowledge. It's good to reflect and revisit "where ya' came from" every once in a while, and we definitely need to get kids more interested in fishing and the outdoors in general these days..

Comments

[Darren]

I like your last point a lot! Here in VA a kindly Korean gentlman re-introduced me to the joys of simple fishing, but not with cane poles, rather the Wal-Mart telescoping pannie poles. I've since bought a serious 98% all-graphite model used for carp fishing in the far east. Use with special floats (and some lindy center sliders) and have caught everything from blue-gill to red ear to warmouth to white/yellow perch, american eel, bullheads to small channel cats to 1.5 lb bass.

Talk about fun!! I don't think I did a single long pole outing in 2011, it was all baitcasters and Stradics hunting for bass!

If you're interested in where to get some of the Korean/Japanese gear, let me know.

[Big Indiana Bass]

Thanks for the reply Darren - As you mentioned, not sure to what degree I'll be able to put down my bass gear this year either :) but have some ideas as to what I'd like to play with in regards to the long pole, including both bank and boat. Anyway, always interested in learning more, so feel free to forward any info/links to me via the e-mail address in the "Contact Us" box at the top left of the page. I'll definitely check them out. Thanks for dropping by the site...

[Bryce]

I really like the 832 lime green braid.....fished it all last season on my tube rod. I only fished with the 10lb test though and I used seaguar red label for my leader in 12 and 15lb test. One spool lasted me through a couple of hundred tubes and a whole season with no problems at all.

If you do put on a "learn to fish" day and are in need of volunteers let me know!

[Big Indiana Bass]

Good to hear Bryce. I can't wait to spool it up and try it myself. I'll keep you posted if I do the kids thing around here.